EU governments’ commitments must be fulfilled, says Eurogroup president

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Eurogroup president Pascal Donohoe said on Thursday it was important that EU governments’ commitments were fulfilled, after being asked how concerned he was that France and Italy might not comply with a prescribed spending reduction.

“What is going to be so important in the months and years ahead is that we fulfil the commitments that we gave to each other”, he said.

“The overall direction of national and euro area budget policy is to move to a lower level of borrowing and a lower deficit for next year. And these are commitments that governments, the finance ministers, have made to each other and I’m confident that they will be delivered.”

France and Italy were among the six countries that the European Commission said on Wednesday should be disciplined for running budget deficits over EU limits.

French politicians are currently campaigning for a June 30-July 7 snap election and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which is leading the polls, has made promises of increased public spending, a lower pension age and a “France first” economy.

Markets are also closely watching Italy, the EU’s third-biggest economy, due to its high debt of around 138% of GDP and slow growth below 1%. The Italian government has said it will take appropriate measures.